The four Gospels contain several accounts of Christ’s coming to the disciples after His resurrection. One that is unique is found in Luke chapter 24, the story of the two disciples on the road to Emmaus. The two disciples, Cleopas and another (according to tradition it is St Luke himself), are on the road from Jerusalem to Emmaus when they encounter a “stranger” (v 18) who is seemingly ignorant of the events of the last week - the betrayal, suffering, death, and - rumored - r

“How shall we sing the Lord's song in a strange land?” Thus asks the singer, held captive in Babylon, in one of the most painful laments in all of the scriptures, Psalm 136. Remembering his land and his home but most grievously of all the holy city of Jerusalem, the psalmist can hardly bring himself, when commanded by his captors, to sing them one of the holy songs of Zion. His spirit all but extinguished and teetering on the brink of despair, he is nevertheless overcome with

The hymns of the Church are a school of spiritual life. In fact, it has often been said that if you want to learn the Orthodox Faith and teachings all you need to do is go to Church and pray with attention, for the great hymn-books of the Church - the Menaion, the Octoechos, the Triodion, and the Pentecostarion - contain all our dogmas and spiritual teaching in doxological form. An exceptional example of this are the hymns of Pascha, the Feast of Feasts. The hymnographers, in

The Matins of Holy Saturday, served on the night of Holy Friday, contains the moving and tender Lamentations at the tomb and shroud of the Savior. The Lamentations are composed of an interplay, a weaving together, of two sets of songs: Psalm 118 and the Lamentation hymns from the Lenten Triodion. The use of Psalm 118 at this moment, the funeral of Christ, makes clear the Church's identification of Christ as the Righteous One, whom v.1 of the psalm calls “the blameless in the